Sexual harassment victims, for the most part, go through a great deal of psychological and emotional pain even after they their claim has been settled. The fact is that the victim is ostracized from friends and employees. At times, people sympathize with the accused but they believe that the accused were responsible for the sexual harassment. In this post, we are going to talk about post harassment syndrome. So, read on to find out more about this topic.
The truth is that the victim sometimes have a feeling of guilt since she may feel that she did something wrong that caused the harasser to commit sexual harassment. Aside from this, she may also feel that her aim behind complaining was just to prevent the harasser from irritating her, but she did not intend to “trouble anyone”. In addition, she feels uncomfortable every time she comes across the accused in the work place. In such a situation, it becomes close to impossible for her to work in the place where she comes across the accused many times in a day.
Most victims of post harassment syndrome gradually become marginal employees and do not remain in the list of good employees anymore. Absenteeism and tardiness are other common problems. Moreover, the productivity of the victim goes down significantly and she may be more prone to deadly accidents. This happens on account of depression.
In such a situation, it is necessary to address the feelings of the victim. At the same time, however, it is important to consider the affect of the sexual harasser’s feelings. The emotions of the harasser may include anger, guilt, paranoia, anger and resentment. As a result, they may cause more problems to the victim. As with the victim, their productivity can also decrease to a great extent.
Apart from that, the accused may also get ostracized from their fellow employees and friends. After all, nobody will want to make friends with a sexual harasser. They may feel as if they are leper in the company. They may think that their career is over in the company. They may get mentally disturbed. As a result, they may commit something wrong.
So, as a manger, what can you do in order to resolve this type of issues? First of all, you should know that this type of issue often occur in organizations. Second, you should get proper training to deal with sexual harassment incidents in the workplace. As a manager, you should meet with the victims in order to sympathize with them and understand their feelings.
In order to better deal with such issues, companies should consult professional psychologists. Moreover, companies should run employee assistance programs in order to assist both victims and managers. They will then be able to handle these tricky situations in the best way possible. It is not a good idea to handle these issues through lawsuits as this can cause problems, such as reduced productivity, increased turnovers and weak employee relations. So, sexual harassment training is of paramount importance.